Every Winnable Game is a Must-Win for the Michigan State Spartans Football

Michigan State Spartans have one of the most difficult schedules in the country, and to make Jonathan Smith's first season leading the football team successful they must win the games in their grasp.

Michigan State's head coach Jonathan Smith looks on during the Spring Showcase on Saturday, April 20, 2024, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA

Michigan State football is entering its first season under Coach Jonathan Smith. The hope surrounding the program is that Coach Smith and his coaching staff will be able to help the Spartans get back on track. The last few seasons have been difficult for the Spartans. Under Coach Smith, Michigan State looks to return to national prominence again. However, in the first season under Coach Smith, the Spartans have one of the most challenging schedules in the Big Ten and one of the most difficult schedules in the country. 

While Coach Smith may or may not be patient with the Spartans’ turnaround, most agree that turning around a football program takes time. In today’s age of the transfer portal, though, sparking a turnaround doesn’t necessarily have to take as long as it did in years past, in which college football programs wouldn’t see the progress of a new coaching regime for at least three or four years. 

After securing one of the best transfer portal classes in the country this offseason, Coach Smith and his coaching staff have given themselves a chance to see at least some progress in their first season in East Lansing. However, even with a talented transfer portal class and competent coaching staff, the Spartans will still need to control what they can control, which is their performance on game day.

With Coach Smith and the Spartans having one of the most challenging schedules in the country, the games they have a chance to win become much more critical. Consecutive games against Ohio State, Oregon, Iowa, and Michigan give the Spartans one of the country's most difficult four-game stretches. This stretch could realistically see the Spartans go on a four-game losing streak this season. 

Most understand the Spartans will likely not fare well in that stretch of games, as Michigan State is in the beginning stages of a rebuild. Most of those four schools are where Michigan State hopes to one day be as a football program. 

Coach Smith and the Spartans will receive the benefit of the doubt for those four games. However, the Spartans have a chance in every other scheduled game. That four-game stretch in the middle of the season makes nearly all the other games on the Spartans’ schedule all but must-win games if they hope to have a successful season.

The Spartans should win the games against Florida Atlantic and Prarie View A&M. A loss in either game would be a setback. Michigan State plays both Maryland and Boston College on the road. While playing both teams on the road early in the season will be difficult for the Spartans, it is not unreasonable to expect them to win at least one of those games, which is not irrational. The Spartans should enter their game against Ohio State 2-2 at the worst or 3-1 at the best. 

The worst-case scenario would be for the Spartans to lose all four games of the aforementioned four-game stretch. However, even if they did, they would enter the last quarter of the season with four winnable games, three of which will be played in East Lansing.

While many things would need to go right for the Spartans, they could win the last four games of the season and finish with at least six wins, making Coach Smith’s first season a successful one. For this to happen, though, the Spartans must win the games they have a legitimate shot at winning. Doing so would help Coach Smith and his coaching staff shorten the time it takes to rebuild Michigan State’s football program.

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